Vermont Smoked Porter | The Vermont Pub & Brewery

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Reviews by rfgetz:

Pours a dark black with adequate cap of khaki bubbles, decent retention. Scent is strong on smoke and charred grain, light sweetness peaks through in the end. Smoke leads tastes but is in perfect amount, no overpowering meat like smoke, or wimpy hints. Charred oak balances nicely with a light creamy sweetness. Lighter side of medium bodied, thin for style and over carbonated. Overall, great smoke profile in nose and taste, while body hinders the overall grade.

More User Reviews:

This beer was served pitch black with a tight creamy lace. Excellent head retention. Nose was smokey, faint pepper aroma. Flavour consisted of smoothed smoked flavours of distinct apple, maple and hickory, which are well-blended and pulled together by a light sweetness and an even, medium body. Light roasted flavours lead to a mild bitter background. The malty smokey flavours pull-thru again for a final pass at the palate, followed by faint metallic and blood flavours into the finish.

An outstanding and well-executed beer. One of the best porters / smoked beers that I've ever had. The beer was made with apple, maple and hickory smoked malts to "recreate 17th century flavours". This beer is an ideal accompaniment for grilled meats.

This pours a jet black with a large brown foamy head. The smell has a black expresso bean quality to it. This is roasted coffee with smoked wood,apple and hickory? The taste has the same smoked and roasted qualities. Very good. The m/f is medium and the flavors are well balanced. This is one of the best smoked porters around so I would grab it if you can.

This was the best smoked beer I've ever had. The perfect balance of smokiness, dryness, and malt. I thought that it was a stout when I tastes it because it didn't have that big hop backing that a lot of porters have. It was much more like a dry stout. The flavor was bold and fresh, but not sticky or heavy. A nice smooth smoke flavor was left in your mouth with every sip, much like a good Islay scotch. If I could get my hands on a case of this stuff it would not go to waste.

pours hazy deep dark brown, not quite black, with a small fine tan head. the head drops quickly and leaves no lace. the sample on tap at the brewery had a more substantial head that left more impressive lacing.

mouthfeel is nice. just over medium body. low carbonation level. as with the growler of forbidden fruit, most of the carbonation that i saw in the samples we had on tap is gone and it suffers for it.

drinkability is pretty good. nice balance. good balance on the smoke level, adding nice depth without overpowering. i think the classification here is off - it's definitely not an american porter, english at best but more correct would be smoked porter.

Good flavor in this beer that also finds a balance between the traditional roasted malt porter taste, with hints of coffee and chocolate, and the smoked aspect, which to me was just right and not too heavy. Appealing hints of woodiness here too.

Wasn't crazy about the mouthfeel of this beer though, as I felt it lacked significant carbonation and was a bit thin and lifeless. I don't even like super-carbed porters but this one just came up a bit short in this department.

Dark brown with a nice head. A nice fruity smoooth smoked porter. The apple, maple, and hickory smoked malts really come through. They do the smoking on site and it shows. A tad sweet, but balanced well enough to make it good. Another great VT brew... Try Rock Art's Smoked Porter if you come to VT, it's even better!

This beer has some of the characteristics of a Baltic Porter without the strong ABV. It is inky black, with a coffee grind nose. The beer is a bit on the bitter side, as far as porters go, not all that creamy, or less than I was hoping for. The beer has a smoked and woody character, a coffee grind assertiveness, and not all that much sweetness. The ABV is lower than I would pegged it for. I had this as a sampler and moved on. The only beer from VPB that I liked in any measure was the stout.

Had this brew on cask last evening, it was pulled to a very dark brown color with a dark tan bubbly head which had pretty good legs and left a fair amount of lacing at the top half of the glass. The first thing that I noticed with this beer is that it was severed quite warm, a tad warmer than I would even expect a cask brew to be served. With that being said it did not take away from the experience, seemed to bring out the aromas and tastes even more. The aromas where quite nice, fair amount of roasted malts with quite a bit of smokiness that came together quite nicely. The taste was roasted at the beginning with a finish that was quite smoky. Also noticed highlights of Chocolate and coffee in the middle. One thing that I noticed was that it seemed somewhat thin; I was expecting it to be a bit heavier/thicker. Over all this is a nice brew, very well done. Went exceptionally well with the food that we had.

Stadium pour of a black liquid with a ring of beige around the top. The smell, which increases as the stuff warms up, is of roasted grains and smoke. The taste is very much like a semi-sweet stout that has been slightly smoked. I wonder if it is a sign of roasted un-malted barley that makes me think that it tastes more like a stout than a porter. Feels slick and smooth, but not creamy - a little oily instead. At the end of my pint I am satisfied but do not want another, as the oiliness and smokiness become a little tiring. Overall a nice, interesting brew.